


Queer Lodgings

by mugspensive



Category: Life of the Party D&D (Web Series)
Genre: Alcohol, Birthday Party, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Sariel owns the braincell in this friend group, bullying Cassian, canon-typical vegetable hatred, corn without plot, tavern au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-19 05:55:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29994906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mugspensive/pseuds/mugspensive
Summary: Vanden and Cassian meet in the Admiral Fell Inn when Vanden needs a table to eat dinner at and the inn is full. What happens next will shock you. (No it won't)
Relationships: Renard | Vanden du Argentfort & Cassian Thiarin, Renard | Vanden du Argentfort/Cassian Thiarin, Sariel & Cassian Thiarin
Kudos: 16





	1. Many Meetings

**Author's Note:**

> This is a tavern au which just means that they meet in a tavern and generally have less trauma and problems.

Cassian had seen him before. That was an understatement, he had seen him every day during lunch for almost a year. He would be halfway down his meal when he would walk in, order his food, sit down at a table and eat. The first few times Cassian didn’t even notice the attractive man but it soon turned into something he expected, just another part of his daily routine.

Cassian was sitting at his table as usual, the Admiral Fell Inn was full for the first time since he’d started going there. He had finished his soup and was drinking tea and reading like usual when the man approached him. He was dressed in nice clothes, ginger hair framing his freckled face. When Cassian noticed him he just looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m Vanden,” the pretty man said.

“Cassian,” he just stared at the man, Vanden, trying to figure out what he wanted, “yes?”

“Oh yeah,” Vanden stammered, “tavern’s full, can I sit at your table?”

Now this was curious.

“Why would we do that?” Cassian asked, interested to see where this was heading.

“I see you in here all the time. Alone. And I’m hungry,” Vanden said casually.

Cassian propped his elbow onto the table and rested his head on his hand. He tilted his head to the side, looking intently at Vanden.

“I’ll pay for your meal.”

Cassian lifted his head from his hand and gestured at the chair on the other side of the table. “Glad to make your acquaintance.”

Vanden nodded, put his bag on the chair and went to order his food.

They spent the rest of their lunch in silence, only breaking it when Cassian announced that it was time for him to get back.

They continued their system for a few months, Vanden joining Cassian whenever the tavern was full and sometimes when it was almost full. Vanden always paid for both of their meals. And slowly but surely they started having conversations. Not about anything important, usually just complaining about the weather and discussing different foods. Sometimes gossiping about some of the other people who frequented the tavern.

During this time, Cassian sometimes told Sariel, his closest and oldest friend about ‘this one pretty man’ who kept talking to him. It was another one of those days and Cassian was sitting on the floor next to Sariel, redoing his henna while she braided her hair.

“He keeps eating with me and then he just sits there and talks to me.”

Sariel looked amused. “I don’t see what’s wrong with that.”

“He just sits there looking pretty and makes fun of me,” Cassian said, “why does he do that? Is that what _friends_ do?”

“Cassian, I’m your friend.”

“But it’s different because I’ve known you for a long time,” he responded, genuinely confused.

“So you’re upset,” Sariel started, holding back a laugh, “because the man you have a crush on spends time with you?”

Cassian stopped what he was doing and stared at her. “I don’t have a _crush_ on him.”

“Could have fooled me, with all this talk of how _handsome_ he is and how much he spends time with you.”

“I _might_ like him,” Cassian said firmly while doing his henna again, “but I do _not_ have a crush.”

“Whatever you want to call it,” Sariel said, a small smile on her lips.

“And I want to call it ‘not a crush’ because it isn’t one.”

Sariel put a hair tie at the end of her now finished braid. “So you just like him and want to kiss him?”

“Yes,” whined Cassian, “why can’t he just make a move?”

“Well, you could also make a move,” Sariel pointed out.

“That’s not the point. What if he isn’t interested?”

Sariel thought to herself for a moment. “It certainly sounds like he’s interested.”

Cassian just made a non-committal sound. They spent the rest of their night talking about Sariel’s approaching birthday and started to make plans for the party.

It was another busy day at his shop and Cassian had lost track of time. When he went out for lunch it was later than usual. Not that it mattered to him. When he walked into the almost full tavern, he saw Vanden sit up straighter. After ordering his food Cassian went over to Vanden’s table and sat down.

“I was starting to think you wouldn’t show up,” Vanden admitted.

Cassian smirked. “Missed me already, did you?”

“Oh, shut up,” Vanden said, a light blush creeping onto his cheeks.

“Don’t worry,” Cassian responded after a brief pause, “I would have missed your pretty face as well.”

Vanden’s cheeks went even redder. They spent a while in awkward silence, just eating their meals. Vanden was picking out corn from his lunch and Cassian found that concerning.

“I know you have that whole disliking vegetables thing going on,” Cassian said, remembering all of Vanden’s vegetable rants and pointing at Vanden’s food with his fork, “but why are you separating _corn_ from your food?”

Vanden raised a finger. “First off, I _hate_ vegetables,” he raised another finger, “and second off, corn is a vegetable. So I hate it.”

“That’s ridiculous, corn is a grain,” Cassian simply stated.

Vanden looked confused at that. “How can it be a grain? It’s _wet_.”

“Obviously it’s wet, it’s in your _soup_.”

“Have you ever seen a corn field?” Vanden asked, “because it’s pretty damn wet on the field as well.”

Cassian smirked. “If you hate corn so much, then why are you eating it off the cob on the _field_?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth,” Vanden said defensively, “you can tell that something is wet without having to eat it.” 

“Okay then,” Cassian chuckled, “but you do know that corn actually dries up and you can make bread out of it. So it’s a grain like wheat. Unless of course you want to argue that wheat is also a vegetable.”

Vanden almost looked offended at that. “Obviously wheat isn’t a vegetable.”

“Good to know you have at least some sort of common sense.”

“But why isn’t it a vegetable?” asked Vanden.

“That doesn’t really matter, does it,” Cassian said, “what matters is that it tastes good and is a good addition to any meal. What matters is that you apparently hate it, for no reason. Have you ever even eaten corn?”

Vanden pulled a face. “I must have had it at some point.”

“Wait,” Cassian said, “you don’t know what it tastes like, do you?”

“And what if I don’t?”

Cassian reached over the table, picked up a piece of corn with his fork and held it in front of Vanden’s face. “Try it.”

“No,” Vanden scoffed, “I’m not going to let you bully me into eating corn.”

“Come on, don’t be a coward,” Cassian said, raising his eyebrows as if to challenge him.

Vanden grabbed the fork from his hand. “This doesn’t mean you win,” he announced and ate the single piece of corn. Surprisingly he didn’t pull a face of disgust. Cassian had put his elbows on the table and was now resting his face on his hands, looking at Vanden with interest. 

“It’s not horrible, is it?”

“Well it’s,” Vanden started, looking like he didn’t want to finish the sentence, “it’s not the worst?”

Cassian shook his head. “Is that really all?”

“I’m not going to say that it tastes good,” Vanden said as he put some of the corn back into his soup.

“But it is good,” Cassian said, smirking in victory, “isn’t it?”

“Maybe a bit.”

They ate the last of their lunch in comfortable silence before having to go back to their respective duties. Cassian paid for both of their meals.

After that they started spending all of their lunches together, no matter how empty the inn was. They stopped caring about the excuse. They went on seeing each other every day for a few weeks while their conversations started becoming even more personal and flirtatious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the corn chapter!


	2. A Long Expected Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Sariel's birthday party! What could happen...

It was a weekend evening and Cassian was helping Sariel with preparations for her birthday party. Well, Sariel was doing everything and Cassian was making sure it looked nice.

“So who even is coming to your party?” he asked as he rearranged the cheese to be symmetrical.

“Well,” Sariel started taking down glasses from the shelf while balancing on a chair, “of course Astra will be here, then you also know Aerenthias and Boblem and I’m pretty sure I’ve told you about Boske before, you know, from work?”

Cassian nodded along while placing the last piece of cheese, familiar with all the people Sariel had mentioned. “Just the six of us then?”

“Well, there’s one other person coming.”

“Great,” Cassian said looking over his masterpiece, the now perfectly arranged cheese platter, clearly satisfied with himself. “Anyways, where is Astra? I haven’t seen him today.”

“Oh, they’re out buying some drinks right now,” she answered, closing the cabinet doors, “should be back soon.” 

As if on command Cassian heard the door open.

“I’m back!” called Astra before a very loud _thump_ came from the living room.

“Astra, how much did you buy?” yelled Sariel before she hurried out of the kitchen, cheese platter on her hands. 

Cassian started carrying all the tableware to the living room where most of the party would take place. He almost dropped everything when he hit his foot on the edge of a rug. Luckily no one noticed it.

The three of them spent another half hour setting everything up. Astra was cleaning up the small mess of cheese in the kitchen that Cassian may or may not have contributed to and Sariel was making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. Cassian laid down a seashell and opened it, filling the room with soft music. When they were done, Sariel and Astra’s living room looked pretty, not that it usually didn’t, with fancy magical decorations shining on the walls and ceiling. Just as they had finished, there was a knock on the door. Sariel opened it and Boblem stepped in, ducking down as he did so. He was carrying a big box with a silver ribbon around it. 

“Hey y’all,” he said, beaming at all of them as he carefully set the box down.

Astra smiled back at him. “Hello!”

“Hello there, Boblem,” Cassian greeted as he sat down.

Sariel ran over and gave him a big hug, her head barely reaching his chest. “It’s good to see you again.”

“I’m glad you could make it,” Astra spoke up.

“Of course,” Boblem replied, “I wouldn’t want to miss my friend’s birthday.”

Sariel pulled away from the hug and smiled up at him. “I know you wouldn’t, it’s just been a while.”

Astra looked at the box curiously. “Is that the cake?”

“Yea! I finished it this morning!”

Cassian looked on from his spot on the soft couch as the others caught up with each other. He remembered how a few years back Sariel and Astra had met Boblem and the three went on a small adventure in the wilderness. Needless to say, Cassian hadn’t joined them. But the others had stayed in touch with Boblem and over time, without noticing, Cassian had also grown closer to him. Never spending time with him alone but seeing him with Sariel from time to time, when Boblem was around Mirrortail.

When Astra and Sariel had caught Boblem up on everything, Cassian was halfway through his second glass of grape juice. He was pouring himself another glass when there was a heavy knock on the door. Astra stood up and opened the door to let Boske in.

“Hey!” they greeted, “good to see you again!”

“You too,” she answered and turned to do finger guns at Sariel, “there’s the birthday girl!”

Sariel raised her arms and cheered. “I’m the birthday girl!”

Boske laughed and her eyes settled on Cassian.

“Cassian,” he said, introducing himself.

Boske nodded. “Boske.”

Cassian gave her a nod of acknowledgement and went back to pouring juice.

After a short while there was another knock on the door and Astra went to open it again. He smiled when he saw Aerenthias. He stepped inside and Astra closed the door.

“Hello, handsome,” Aerenthias said with a wink before turning to look at everyone else, “happy birthday, Sariel.”

“Thank you. Come in, get something to eat,” she said gesturing to the table, “Boske, this is Aerenthias. Aerenthias, this is Boske.”

Aerenthias offered a hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Same to you,” said Boske as she shook his hand.

The party went on with the six of them for a while, the last person nowhere to be seen. They were mostly through the food and starting to get into the wine.

Cassian was in the kitchen looking for another bottle of juice when he heard a knock on the door and the sound of it opening before a very familiar voice spoke up.

“Sorry I’m late, Sariel. I got caught up at work.”

Cassian didn’t hear her response over his own thoughts. Was that Vanden’s voice? Why would he know Sariel? _How_? He peeked out the kitchen door and there Vanden was, looking good as always, standing in front of Sariel and chatting with her. Cassian saw Astra greet him with a smile and a wave. He saw what looked like introductions of Vanden by Sariel. In one horrifying moment Sariel’s confidence in his new ‘friend’ made perfect sense. Why wouldn’t she know him. Cassian shook himself from his thoughts. As he looked at Vanden he saw him turning his head and was suddenly staring at him. He looked as shocked as Cassian felt. So he didn’t know either. Suddenly Astra seemed to notice him as well.

“Cassian! Vanden finally arrived!”

Cassian pulled himself together and walked up to everyone. “Isn’t it great that you could make it?” he said, looking at Vanden.

“Yes, it rather is,” he answered, suddenly looking a little pink, “good to see you again.”

“You too.”

After Sariel had finished introductions, Cassian found himself alone with Vanden in the hallway. There was a silence between them, neither knowing what to say.

“So,” said Vanden tentatively, “uh, how long have you known Sariel?”

“Oh, for nearly 25 years now,” he replied, knowing the answer to that question, “How long for you?”

Vanden looked shocked for a moment at the many years he just mentioned. “Oh yeah, elves. Sorry, I forgot for a moment. I’ve known her for a year or two.”

“It happens,” Cassian said after letting out a chuckle. He paused briefly before continuing, “I’m guessing you also didn’t know.”

“Definitely didn’t,” Vanden answered, looking relieved that they were addressing the elephant in the room.

Cassian smiled at him. “Glad I’m not the only one, but I’m guessing that she does know.”

“Most probably.”

“As much as I do like spending time with you, we should probably join the party,” Cassian said after a brief pause as he nudged Vanden with his elbow. He got a slightly flushed face in response. They went to the living room and joined the others in cheering on Boske and Aerenthias as they did push-ups. It looked like a competition which Boske was winning. 

A while later Cassian finally had managed to get Sariel by herself. “So, the mystery guest is Vanden.”

“Mhm,” Sariel nodded, “always has been.”

“How have I not met him before?” he asked, genuinely wanting to know, “you’ve known him for a while.”

“Honestly? I thought you might be a little bit too much.”

Cassian pulled a face but nodded. “That’s probably fair.”

“But,” Sariel continued, “then as time passed I found out you did actually know each other.”

“And then you didn’t want to tell me that the man I’ve been wanting to kiss for a while is actually also your friend,” Cassian guessed.

“Something like that.”

Cassian looked around the room. “Speaking of Vanden, where did he go?”

“Probably outside,” she answered as she nodded towards the door to the veranda.

Cassian squeezed Sariel’s hand and walked outside to find Vanden leaning against the railing and drinking. He stood next to him, also leaning against the railing. They stayed in silence for a moment.

“You doing okay?” 

“Yeah,” Vanden answered, “just needed a breather.”

Cassian looked a little less worried. “At least no one needs to keep up appearances here.”

“Oh yeah,” Vanden sighed, “that’s so tiring.”

“Rich entitled people are so annoying. I don’t know why I bother,” Cassian complained, finally having someone around who could relate to the problem that was rich people. If he was happy to distract Vanden, no one needed to know.

“Tell me about it, I hate it.”

They spent a while on the veranda, complaining about rich people and drinking their respective drinks until they decided to go inside again for the cake.

Once everyone was inside, Astra dimmed all the lights in the room. After a quiet moment only filled with the music emanating from the seashell, Cassian put up three of his dancing lights and Astra shaped them into the numbers 1, 3 and 5, as they had planned earlier. While everyone was in awe of the floating numbers of fire, Boblem came from the kitchen, a beautiful cake on his hands. When he had set it down everyone started singing Sariel a happy birthday. Most of them were on key. When the song was over, Cassian put out his lights and the regular lights got brighter again. 

“Wasn’t that a fun show,” Sariel said, looking genuinely happy, “how long have you been planning this?”

“Oh, since last year,” answered Cassian, proud of what he had pulled off with Astra.

“Yeah!” Astra added, “did you like it?”

Sariel squeezed their hand. “Of course I liked it!”

“Does anyone want cake?” Boblem asked, to everyone’s great delight.

Cassian was having a great time watching his friends get drunk. After the cake all that everyone had consumed was alcohol, it was great. Several bottles of wine had been emptied already. Cassian was sitting next to Sariel and Boblem and was listening to them quietly discussing Boblem’s farm. He was only mildly interested in that. As he looked around the room he saw Boske animatedly describing something to Vanden. He was apparently very interested in whatever story she was telling. On the other couch he saw Astra and Aerenthias talking while Aerenthias was constantly leaning closer. Astra looked flustered as he often did with Aerenthias around. Honestly, the man was more flirt than tiefling. Cassian thought that Astra should just get over themself and, well at least flirt back or something. It had been _ages_ and everyone could see that both of them were interested. It isn’t hard to open up to someone about your feelings. _Not like you could talk,_ he immediately thought, as he felt a smile play on his lips upon seeing Vanden laughing heartily over something Boske said. His face had no right to look that soft in the warm light. His train of thought was broken by Sariel poking his arm.

“You’re looking at him,” she simply stated.

“I’m allowed to have eyes, Sariel.”

“Ya know,” Boblem spoke up, looking between the two, “he’s got a point.”

Cassian gave a curt nod. “Thank you, Boblem.”

After that he went back to paying attention to Boblem’s stories about his farm. A bit later Vanden emerged with a glass of wine in his hand and sat down next to him.

“You’re from the farm, right?” he asked, looking at Boblem.

“Yea,” he answered, “why do you ask?”

“Then you would know, what type of food is corn?”

Cassian brought a hand to his forehead, not feeling up to a corn debate again.

“We don’t have to get into this again.”

“I don’t mind, I would say that it’s a fruit,” Boblem said with a small smile.

Vanden looked like he was ready to argue. “Surely it can’t be.”

“You can’t just say things like that,” Cassian stated, not believing that corn could be a vegetable.

“Calm down,” Sariel said, holding back a laugh, “it doesn’t really matter, does it.”

Boblem nodded. “I guess not.”

The party had wound down and there were only four people left: Sariel, Vanden, Cassian and Astra. Everyone except Cassian had already drunk a fair bit and Vanden had just opened yet another bottle of wine.

“Drinking yourself into oblivion on a work night, prince Vanden?” Sariel asked in mock surprise. She and Astra laughed and Vanden furiously blushed as Cassian’s brain shut down. 

“A _prince_!?” he blurted out.

Astra looked confused. “Yea, prince of Mirrortail. Did you not know?”

Cassian stared at Vanden who was just blushing and looking at the ground. He turned his gaze towards Astra and then Sariel, who looked very amused by the whole thing.

“Oh you are going to pay for this,” he messaged into her head. Sariel just let out a giggle. Cassian spent the last portion of the party sitting on the sofa and processing everything as the others were talking amongst themselves. When he was halfway done processing Astra sat down next to him.

“So you didn’t know he’s a prince?” he asked, looking confused, “and you’ve known him for a while?”

Cassian let out a sigh. “Yes.”

“That’s gotta be embarrassing,” Astra said as they let out a chuckle.

“How did you even find out about it?”

“Well,” he started, “Sariel told me about it. And then explained what a prince was.”

Cassian pulled a face as he thought to himself, feeling betrayed. “Well, why didn’t she tell me?”

“I’m pretty sure she just did tell you,” Astra said, a mischievous smile on their lips.

“Not what I mean,” Cassian replied, giving them an exasperated look, “why not tell me beforehand. Well, or that she knew Vanden.”

Astra looked confused. “Wait, you didn’t know they knew each other?”

Cassian shook his head in response.

“You got to admit that that’s pretty funny though.”

“Is it?” Cassian asked before he stood up and walked to the veranda to be alone with his thoughts again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact: corn can be a vegetable, a grain and a fruit; you learn something new every day.


End file.
